Hollywood based Zimbabwean actress, Danai Gurira has landed the role of playing Tupac Shakur’s mother, Afeni Shakur, in the biopic All Eyez On Me about the late rapper’s life. All Eyez On Me is the title of Tupac’s 4th album.
Gurira joins relatively unknown Demetrius Shipp, Jr. who, at the end of last year, was cast to play Tupac Shakur in the production that has taken long to develop, with music video/commercial director Benny Boom directing, and it’s currently filming in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
In Afeni Shakur (who is one of the executive producer’s on the film and the custodian of her son’s estate), Gurira plays a complex woman.
A political activist and member of the Black Panthers, Afeni raised her son to be a voracious reader with a political awareness that informed his development as a street poet.
The film covers Tupac’s rise to stardom as a hip-hop artist and actor, as well as his imprisonment and prolific, controversial stint at Death Row Records, where he was steeped in the East Coast/West Coast rap war.
Gurira’s other screen credits include The Visitor and Mother Of George.
She’s also an award-winning playwright: her play Eclipsed, which opened off-Broadway with Lupita N’Yongo starring, moves to Broadway in March, and her play Familiar opens off-Broadway in March. Newsvyb.com
